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Inside The Bills

As we covered on Buffalobills.com today, the defensive staff will be hard at work devising new solutions to the problems that opposing offenses presented during the 2015 season. Here are some of the areas where Buffalo’s defense was compromised that the coaches will likely be prioritizing as areas to address in the coming weeks.

19th in total first downs allowed
21st in red zone defense (60% success rate allowed)
23rd in third down defense (40.5% conversion rate allowed)
27th in completions of 20 yards or more (59)
30th in points allowed on opponent’s first second half possession (53 points allowed)
31st in sacks (21)

The Bills also had their share of positive stats on defense. Perhaps the most inexplicable is their defensive prowess at the end of the first half. Buffalo’s defense was first in the league in points allowed at the end of the first half permitting just 20 all season, less than half the NFL average (53). But as listed above that stinginess disappeared when they came back out for the start of the third quarter with opponents putting up 53 points on their first possession of the second half against Buffalo last season. That ranked 30th and was almost double the league average (28).

Other areas where the defense was solid were total takeaways, where they ranked 11th and points allowed on an opponent’s first possession where they ranked ninth. Buffalo was also 10th in passer rating allowed (83.3) and teams were afraid to run against the Bills on first down as evidenced by the following. Buffalo opponents ran the ball just 37 percent of the time in the first half of games against the Bills, the lowest figure in the league. Opponents overall run percentage against Buffalo of 39 percent ranked 10th.